The people, forgetting his weakness and remembering only his amiability, wept at his burial.
Vlademer, the eldest son of Vsevolod, with great magnanimity surrendered the crown to his cousin Sviatopolk, saying, "His father was older than mine, and reigned at Kief before my father.
I wish to avoid dissension and the horrors of civil war." He then proclaimed Sviatopolk sovereign of Russia.

The new sovereign had been feudal lord of the province of Novgorod; he, however, soon left his northern capital to take up his residence in the more imperial palaces of Kief.

But disaster seemed to be the doom of Russia, and the sounds of rejoicing which attended his accession to the throne had hardly died away ere a new scene of woe burst upon the devoted land.
The young king was rash and headstrong.

He provoked the ire of one of the strong neighboring provinces, which was under the sway of an energetic feudal prince, ostensibly a vassal of the crown, but who, in his pride and power, arrogated independence.

The banners of a hostile army were soon approaching Kief.